Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Acquired by Teza Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Teza Capital Management LLC increased its shares of Alphabet Inc. by 16.1% during the 1st quarter, making it the firm's 4th largest holding.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co., also raised their stakes in Alphabet, highlighting growing confidence in the company.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annual yield of 0.4%, reflecting a solid dividend payout ratio of 8.95%.

Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,285 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,125 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of Teza Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Teza Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,494,655,000 after acquiring an additional 769,335 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,870,944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467,805 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098,996 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $235.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $236.13. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $196.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

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